Personal Training

[Bruin Dumbledez]

It was a glorious spring morning, the sun was shining, a warm breeze filtered through the tree tops causing the new growth to sway gently and the Hogwarts New Zealand campus was just coming to life. A figure that had become a fixture on the grounds over the past several years had just completed his training and was contemplating a quick dip in the lake to cool himself off. Bruin slowed his running pace to a walk as he approached the water's edge and bent double for a moment, placing his hands on his hips and pulling in great volumes of air, enjoying the sensation as the cool air swelled inside of him.

Bruin had risen early on this morning and run the perimeter of the school grounds, weaving in and out of some of the now familiar trails along the edge of the Forbidden Forest as he did so. He had disappeared into the forest for close to an hour as he often did and as he re-emerged he was dirtier than one would imagine or expect, covered in a mixture of perspiration and remnants of the forest itself. The Head Boy enjoyed this time to himself and preferred to complete this routine early at least three times per week. Spending time in the forest alone provided a sense of comfort and it was during these periods of solitude that he felt most at home, whether it be that it reminded him of where he grew up in the Rocky Mountains or simply being out in nature he could not tell. By rising early, he didn't feel the need to justify himself to anyone, figuring that no one else would choose to be out at that time nor interested in what he was doing.

Bruin straightened up and looked out over the lake, following the small ripples being gently pushed across the surface of the water with his gaze, a smile forming on his lips. He was a curious young man, a social animal at times yet completely comfortable with time spent alone. The time he dedicated to this was definitely something that he wished and needed to do out of sight and out of mind. He had struggled mightily over the past three years with making progress in his training, but was now finally arriving at a point where he felt confident and proud of what he had managed to accomplish. While things normally came fairly easily to him, this was something that hadn't and it made it all the more rewarding to reflect on the experience in its entirety.

Bruin took a quick look around and getting the sense that he was alone, pulled off his shirt and discarded his socks and shoes. He took the final few strides to the lake and without a second thought, plunged into the still cool waters with a shallow dive. He broke the surface and then knifed his way out into the lake with several powerful strokes before rolling over onto his back and floating for a few blissful moments, gazing upwards at the beautiful, cloudless sky. There would not be many more mornings like this and Bruin would enjoy this one to the fullest.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andy wandered down to the lake, the girls were all thankfully asleep so escaping was a breeze. The night had passed in another struggle of wanting sleep but not getting enough of it. Dreams were changing all the time on her now, the morbid ones involving her uncle and her father had past to be replaced by a warm comforting presence, she never got to see his face but that was one thing she was sure of. It was a boy definitely. There was always something very familiar about him but what that was always eluded her.

Figuring that if she waited around to use the prefects bathroom or the dorm one, she would only end up meeting the girls or worse, Bruin. After pulling on her bikini, her jeans and a loose fitting black t-shirt and carrying her tennis shoes in her hands Andy had tiptoed out of the room. By the time she was heading to the lake, the idea of a swim was definitely a good one. The sun was already getting hot and after such a restless night, she wanted nothing more than to kick back and feel refreshed somehow.

Andy never went to the usual spot where all the other kids went to swim, she walked along the path until she arrived at the large rock hidden by some trees. She placed her shoes on top of it and slipped out of her jeans and tossed those on top as well. Whipping off her t-shirt she didn't mind quite so much what she was wearing, she had found the confidence during the summer to wear it even when it revealed her scarring on her shoulder and ankle. All the others were merely faint silver lines now, nothing at all for her to be conscious of and her werewolf scars she had grown accostumed to a long time ago.

She tossed her t-shirt with the rest of her things and climbed on to the rock. Taking a deep breath she dove from the rock into the sparkling water. It was glorious, breathtaking. She surfaced a few moments later, the ripples cascading off her pale skin. Slowly she treaded water, long easy lazy strokes as she swam. A movement caught her eye and Andy stopped swimming.
Her body went into an automatic floating mode, her hands and legs gracefully moving to keep her afloat. Someone else was swimming at this ungodly hour. Whoever it was, was simply relaxing and hadn't seen her yet. She would probably have time to turn and swim back the way she had come.

 

[Bruin Dumbledez]

Bruin remained relatively motionless for several minutes, paddling his hands occasionally to keep himself afloat, but otherwise relatively relaxed with his thoughts. His morning training session had left him physically and mentally exhausted and the events of the past few weeks had taxed him as well. The cool water felt good, slowly rejuvenating him and preparing him for the rigors of the day ahead.

Surprisingly, the movement of the water changed around him. It was as though the rippled water moving by him had changed its point of origin and it caused Bruin to lift his head out of the water and assess the surroundings. No matter how relaxing the water was, he had no interest in tangling with the Giant Squid this morning and although he had never actually seen it, the stories of sightings of it were frequent enough to cause him some concern.

Bruin turned to look towards the west and his gaze fell on something perhaps even more surprising than the squid, the red hair of Andy glistened in the morning sun. He wondered if she had seen him, perhaps even wanted to speak with him. He hadn't seen her since the Quidditch try-out when she seemed to smile and then quickly closed off again and hadn't been alone with her since she had walked out of the Great Hall. Kat had been to see him and indicated that she was having a lot of difficulties dealing with Patrick's death and Bruin had no idea what to say or if he should say anything at all. Bruin decided that he couldn't avoid the situation any longer and began pulling himself the water towards her, calling to her before he got too close.

"Uhhh, good morning..." Bruin offered, so completely unsure of what to say that he'd wait and guage Andy's response before saying anything more.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

It was too late, the person had seen her and of all people it had to be Bruin. She floated easy enough to turn to face him. His body cutting through the water effortlessly, Andy could only stare for a moment. She hadn't prepared herself for this meeting, this confrontation at all. As better as she was getting at ignoring those about her, at shutting everyone out Andromeda wasn't an expert at it... yet. She knew she would have some job ahead of her to keep the walls up when around her bestfriends, that was being proven time and again in the dorm with the girls but she was coping. If she ever saw Zuka in the corridor she would turn and simply go the other way, though classes were so much harder.

Avoiding Bruin had been the easiest of all and yet also the hardest. He wished her a good morning and for a brief moment the temptation to simply turn and swim from him over powered her but she managed to stay put. A hand went up slowly to sweep wet tendrils of hair from her face. Bruin was tanned and muscular and though she had gotten used to seeing him in swimming trunks throughout the summer, doing so now for some reason unsettled her.

"Good morning" the strain to keep her voice as deadpan as possible was also overwhelming. How did those hermits and recluses do this? They stayed on their own... they didn't mingle in society. She knew that until she was 17years old she would have no choice on the matter though. Opting for rudimentary small talk seemed the easiest and less offensive option to her and with that done she would be able to swim away again.

"Nice morning" she looked about her, preferring to haver her clothes on at this point instead of scantily clad as she was, "well...uhm, I'll leave you enjoy your swim then".

 

[Bruin Dumbledez]

Bruin stopped swimming and listened to Andy's words, not surprised at their intent given what Kat had told him about how Andy was acting towards everyone. But as cool as the water was, her words sent a fresh chill through him and he simply stared at her for a moment and wondering if she would simply swam away regardless of how he responded. He didn't want that to happen, but had no idea how to convince her to stay and talk to him. Part of him wanted to simply tell her this, but he opted for a simpler, perhaps more subtle response.

"Yeah, it is nice... it would be nicer to enjoy it with a friend though." Bruin's emphasis on the word friend and the tone of his voice sounded odd to him, but he thought it came out right. He wanted Andy to understand that he wanted her friendship, that he was still here for her if she wanted his, and that if she swam away that she would be declining his offer to continue being one. He had always believed that actions spoke louder than words anyways. Would she swim away now as she had walked away before? Leaving him to drift towards the future in a state of uncertainty.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andromeda was torn and she simply couldn't understand it. She wanted nothing more than to swim away didn't she? Her head felt pretty much like her body, swimming... or rather drowning. She could very easily reach out to him and beg him to pull her back but that would surely be a show of weakness on her part. Hadn't she given all of this up? Andy couldn't understand why she was battling with herself now?

She had closed herself off from everyone, why should he be any different? There was a part of her deep down that missed all of her friends, that missed him but it wasn't enough to simply miss him was it? The hurt and pain would never leave unless she did. She had been strong enough to walk away from him before, so what was stopping her from swimming away now?

Andy didn't have the answers, didn't have a clue why she was going through any of this? Didn't understand why her world was being thrown in to chaos again and again. She heard him emphasise the word friend and for a fleeting moment as she looked at him, amber eyes meeting hazel, she wanted nothing more than to go back to the sanctuary she had found so many times in his arms. Bruin meant safety, he meant comfort, he meant... Andy stopped her train of thought as quickly as it begun.

Her heart was beginning to hurt again, as if pushing harder against the wall she had nearly perfected. Everything seemed as if it were all just too much, closing in on her when all she wanted was to be free of it. Within moments her chest began to heave, she seriously needed to get away before the panic attack hit her hard.
"I ... have to ... get.. out" she turned and slowly began to swim across to where the rock was, her strokes laboured and almost painful as she struggled to make it. She didn't stop to see if he was following, she didn't think for a second he would. Why should he? Twice now she had quite literally left him ... left their friendship, though this time it was not necessarily her own doing.

The panic attack was fierce, her heart felt constricted not least of all behind the wall she had built for it but against all the fears and heart ache she was loading on top of herself. Weren't all of these suppose to go away, to stop when she no longer had friends. Andy pulled herself out of the water, kneeling on the edge of the bank almost gasping for breath.

 

[Bruin Dumbledez]

Bruin watched Andy's painful retreat, her words ringing in his ears. She was labouring towards shore and he watched only as long as it took her to reach land and pull herself from the water. He wanted to follow her and ensure that she was okay, but she had made it clear that she didn't want him to, hadn't she? He turned his back to her and powered through the water in a frenzy towards the clothes that he had discarded as casually as Andy appeared to be throwing away their friendship.

Bruin reached shore and climbed up the rocks, pausing only briefly to slip on his shoes and pick up the rest of his belongings. The proud Gryffindor looked down the shoreline to ensure that Andy was still there, took one hesitant step towards her and then changed his mind. She just needed time. Bruin tried to convince himself as he made his own retreat, back to the safety and solitude of his dorm room. Bruin felt weary and began to wonder if he had the strength and determination to fight for something that might not even be there.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andromeda struggled for another few minutes to breath, her heart slamming hard in her chest and the sensation of hundreds of sharp needles piercing her would not go. She didn't know how long she knelt there for, only that she had been right. He hadn't come after her, this thought should have made her happy in that it was finally working - her attempts at pushing people away and keeping them away. So why then did she feel wretched? Why did she feel as if he had abandoned her?

Andy pulled herself up eventually and moved to the rock where her clothes were, she found it difficult to get into her clothes with a wet body but managed it soon enough. She didn't leave though, she slid herself down at the side of the rock and stayed sitting there her arms wrapped around her waist as if holding herself together.

She wanted to be alone didn't she? and yet the loneliness felt like such a burden and she hated it. Her hands came up to cover her face, weary and exhausted from battling everyone and everything including herself. She didn't know if her choices, her decisions were the right ones she just knew that as much as she needed them, they were all so much better off without her. The loneliness engulfed her once more and Andy stayed with it, sitting in its miserable arms and trying desperately not to think of any of her friends, of any of her family... but it was getting harder and harder to do the longer she was away from them.